Category: Aston Martin

At the end of World War II Aston Martin was taken over by tractor magnate, David Brown. He learned that Lagonda was also having trouble raising sufficient capital to recommence operations after the war so promptly bought them also. With the purchase of Aston Martin he acquired one of their principal assets which was an excellent multi-tube space frame, coil-sprung chassis and a 2.0-litre engine intended for a planned sports car. This new design, now called the DB1 after the new owner, went on sale in 1948. However, few DB1s… Read more

The Aston Martin company has had a truly chequered career. Over the years there have been a number of times when it looked certain to be going to the wall but on each occasion it was saved by fortunate circumstances ¬– like a major win of a title or at an important event. In 1960 Aston Martin introduced their DB4GT Zagato, a great performing road-legal semi-competition car but one that proved difficult for the average driver to manage on the road and was outperformed by the Ferrari 250GTO on the… Read more

The DBS Aston Martin coupe was introduced in 1969 and continued with the same body styling but with minor restyling and mechanical changes until 1989, when it was replaced by the restyled Virage. William Towns designed the body of this car which was first launched with a six-cylinder engine. As its name implies, the DBS V8, fitted with a 5340 cc four-overhead-camshaft V8 engine, followed. This was the same engine that later powered the Aston Martin Lagonda, a high-tech futuristic design, which was launched in Britain to compete with a… Read more

Early Aston Martins varied in detail specification, but one stood far above the rest: the Ulster, named after the venue of Britain’s oldest road race, the Tourist Trophy. Only 21 of these fabulous machines were produced for customers between 1934 and 1935, with a few extras for the works team to race. Aston Martin owed its existence to competition and was started by two former racing cyclists, Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin, who appeared independently in car trials and hill climbs racing small Singer sports cars soon after the end… Read more

When Sir Arthur Sutherland took control of Aston Martin in 1932 he introduced a new range of cars using proprietary components. These were built around a new chassis frame, a modified version of the 1.5-litre single overhead camshaft engine used in earlier models and a bought-in Moss transmission. The chassis frame came in different lengths so a choice of wheelbase lengths – 2591 mm or 3048 mm – and a choice of two-seater and four-seater body styles were offered. This engine was extremely efficient for its time developing 62 kW…. Read more

The Aston Martin company has had a truly chequered career. Over the years there have been a number of times when it looked certain to be going to the wall but on each occasion it was saved by fortunate circumstances ¬– like a major win of a title or at an important event. In 1960 Aston Martin introduced their DB4GT Zagato, a great performing road-legal semi-competition car but one that proved difficult for the average driver to manage on the road and was outperformed by the Ferrari 250GTO on the… Read more